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Phone Reception, Features and Data Looks are great, but a phone must fulfill its primary purpose: making calls. The LG VX8700 didn't let us down with near-landline voice quality (our call recipients thought we were calling from our desk phones rather than a mobile) and plenty of volume. Crank up the volume to near max and it's more like a speakerphone. The actual speakerphone on the LG is loud but tinny in comparison. Note that closing the phone ends the current call, so you'll use speakerphone with the phone flipped open. Ringer volume is average. Reception is also good, and the phone managed two to three bars of EV and one bar of voice in our severely signal challenged area. We were even able to make and receive calls when the phone didn't register a single bar of 1x, and the call quality was still good. Though it can't beat the Motorola E815 of old (the poster child for amazing RF on Verizon), the VX8700 is pretty good.
Data services over EVDO worked well and are comparable to the LG VX8600 in terms of download speed and video playback performance. V Cast video downloaded with reasonable speed and not too much buffering and the video quality is typical passable (we've been spoiled by Mobile TV on Verizon with the LG VX9400 and Samsung u620!). The phone supports DUN (dialup networking) over Bluetooth for those who need to use the LG as a wireless high speed modem for a notebook. As with most Verizon feature phones, you get Voice Signal's excellent voice command software that uses true speech recognition rather than recorded voice tags. Voice command works over Bluetooth as well and supports dialing by name, number as well as a basic set of commands for the built-in applications. The LG is compatible with Verizon's VZ Navigator for those who need driving directions on the go (this is a fee-based service). Multimedia: Music, Video Playback and Gaming Hard core mobile music users will lament the phone's lack of external or dedicated music controls. Alas, they'd disturb the phone's clean lines. The good news is that the LG has a music player that supports MP3 and WMA formats, and it can play music when the flip is closed and there's a flight mode so you can turn off the phone radio but still listen to tunes. The VX8700 has the same Verizon music player found on most all current Verizon phones. It's not exactly the Cadillac of music players but it does support playlists, sorting by title, artist, genre and more. You can use the player to download songs over the air from Verizon ($1.99 each) and it can sync to Windows Media Player 10 on the desktop (optional cable required). Since phones are often too thin to house standard 2.5 or 3.5mm headset jacks, thin connectors and dongle adapters are increasingly common. The VX8700 comes with an adapter that allows you to use a 2.5mm stereo headset (headset not included). The adapter is about 4" long with a fairly large block on the end that has both the 2.5mm audio jack and a pass-through sync/charge connector (nice touch!). Audio quality is good through stereo headphones and the VX8700 makes a passable MP3 player, despite the lack of external controls. The phone has 44 megs of internal memory (ours shipped with 30 megs free) and you can store tunes on a microSD card up to 2 gigs in capacity.
We were very impressed with the LG as a gaming device. It handles arcade and action games perfectly and of course has no trouble with less demanding puzzle and board games. If you're into mobile gaming, the VX8700 is a good choice. Video playback as tested with V Cast video downloadable purchased content is good, though not quite as smooth and the LG VX9400 which is the current king of video (and TV) on Verizon.
Bluetooth Want to listen to stereo music with no wires attached? The LG supports A2DP and AVRC (though they don't list that profile) for Bluetooth stereo headphones and headsets. We tested the VX8700 with the Plantronics Pulsar 590a and system sounds, music playback as well as the music playback controls on the Plantronics worked well. Music quality is good with decent bass and an overall clarity that's a distinct improvement over A2DP phones from a year or more ago. Of course you can use standard Bluetooth headsets and car kits with the phone. We tested a variety of headsets with the LG, including the Plantronics Discovery 655 and the Samsung WEP200, both of which worked well in terms of voice quality and volume. Range was about 10 to 15 feet with these two tiny headsets, but they typically don't have great range with most phones. In addition, the LG has DUN (dialup networking), vCard transfer, FTP, printing, imaging and serial port profiles. Battery Life The VX8700 has a 800 mAh Lithium Ion battery that's user replaceable. That's a decent capacity for a thin phone (there's less room for a large battery), and the phone lasted us two days on a charge with average use. LG claims 240 hours of standby and 200 minutes of usage (rather than talk time only, they quote usage time). We got 3 hours of talk time which beats LG's claim. As ever, heavy EVDO use, especially watching V Cast video will eat up the battery faster, while playing MP3s with the screen off drains the battery little. The VX8700 is no marathon runner, but it's good by fashion phone standards. Conclusion LG marries fashion and function with the VX8700. The phone is stunning, slim and easily pocketed and it has a good camera, great call quality, good Bluetooth performance including A2DP and good overall response times. In terms of both features and looks, it's serious competition for the Motorola RAZR maxx. We like most everything about this phone lots: a better than average camera, nice video recording quality, strong gaming performance, a very good display (though not quite up to the superb LG VX9400's) and a strong Bluetooth implementation. Our only two dings are the inconvenient microSD card location and the flat keypad/d-pad. Pro: Great looks, slim, good build quality. Strong 2MP camera that takes pleasing still shots and decent QVGA video at 15 fps. Excellent voice quality. Con: MicroSD card slot is under the battery. Keypad is board-flat and hard to press with little tactile feedback. Price: $229.99 with 2-year contract ($179 if purchased from Verizon's web site, retail stores may be higher, other online vendors may be lower) Web sites: www.lgmobile.com www.verizonwireless.com Shopping: Where to Buy
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). Generally, the prettier they are, the more they show fingerprints. The VX8700 has an advantage over piano black and mirrored fashion phones, it shows fingerprints less. That's less-- you'll still find yourself polishing off the prints from time to time, though mostly off the back and outer display. Verizon and LG include a nice micro-fiber-like slip case that does double duty to polish the phone.
